US stocks fall after Dow's rally to 14,000

U.S. stocks fell sharply Monday, the first trading day after the Dow hit its highest level since the financial crisis.

The Dow Jones industrial average dropped as much as 143 points in afternoon trading. It was down 114 at 13,895 as of 1:15 p.m. Eastern time.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 13 points to 1,499. The Nasdaq composite index lost 36 to 3,142. All three indexes were on track for their biggest one-day drops this year.

The declines followed a surge Friday that pushed the Dow over 14,000 for the first time since 2007, before the financial meltdown that routed world markets.

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Friday was only the tenth time in its history that the Dow closed above 14,000. The first was in July 2007; the rest were in October of that year. The index closed Friday just 155 points shy of its record high, set that October.

The rally was powered by solid economic data, including a January jobs report that showed the labor market is strengthening gradually. A broad measure of manufacturing also rose sharply.

The Dow is up 6 percent this year. Yet Wall Street’s celebratory mood was a distant memory Monday, as U.S. stocks followed European markets lower. France’s CAC-40 closed down 3 percent, Germany’s DAX 2.5 percent.

“It started to look like things in the market are maybe getting a little ahead of themselves, compared to some of the data we’ve seen,” said Bill Stone, chief investment strategist at PNC Asset Management Group. He said problems in Europe are also beginning to affect U.S. markets after several quiet months.

Borrowing costs for Italy and Spain rose Monday, Stone noted, reflecting concerns among bond investors that those countries may be unable to meet their financial obligations.

“It kind of restarts some of the old worries that we’ve been able to ignore for quite some time,” Stone said.

In New York, technology and consumer stocks led the declines. Merck & Co. was among the Dow’s biggest losers, dropping 84 cents, or 2 percent, to $40.98. The pharmaceutical company said Friday that its earnings declined in the fourth quarter and 2013 might be weaker than analysts had hoped.

Cisco Systems and Boeing were the only stocks among the 30 in the Dow that rose.

Cruise operator Royal Caribbean fell after reporting a quarterly loss related to its Spanish cruise line, Pullmantur. Prices and bookings have plunged since the Spanish government imposed strict austerity measures, limiting Spaniards’ ability to spend. Royal Caribbean shares dropped $1.38, or 4 percent, to $35.41.

Media company Gannett Co Inc. fell $1.05, or 5 percent, to $18.79. Gannett’s earnings beat Wall Street’s expectations, but the company warned that its TV ad revenue will be hurt this quarter by the absence of $5.1 million in political spending and the move of the Super Bowl from NBC to CBS.

Among other companies making big moves was network gear maker Acme Packet Inc., which surged $5.30, or 22 percent, to $29.23 after Oracle said it would acquire the company for $2.1 billion.

In Europe, political jitters about Spain and Italy pushed stocks lower. Some indexes had their worst day in months.

Concerns over Europe’s debt crisis have eased since last summer, in part because of efforts by the Spanish and Italian governments to get their finances under control.

An upcoming election in Italy places some of those reforms in doubt. The Spanish government, meanwhile, is embroiled in a corruption scandal that’s raising questions over the future of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy.

The euro was trading lower at $1.3531. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 1.97 percent from 2.05 percent earlier Monday as demand for ultra-safe assets increased.